Holtz Realty

Norge

Having been awakened numerous times in the night by the sound of the rain, it came as no surprise to see how much we did get. When driving past creeks and later the Winnebago River, it was a bit scary seeing the water nearing the tops of their banks. Thinking it had finally quit, about an hour later it started back up again.

One of the utility workers stopped at my office for a minute or two and mentioned how horribly muddy the country gravel roads were. I told him he’d better be careful when driving on them because when there’s mud mixed with ice, a person has to be all the more careful. I’ve normally found days like this in late winter just before real Spring arrives, but not on the 27th of December.

I’m beginning to wonder if the creeks and rivers are going to have a hard freeze because if we get past the first two weeks in January, we shouldn’t be having any extended days of below zero weather. It sounds like this coming Sunday it’s supposed to drop down below zero in the night and be only in the teens during the day.

When looking at the weather forecast, I was glad to see Saturday’s weather prediction to be sunny and above freezing. It should be a perfect day for my open house at 115 S. Connecticut considering all the beautiful tall windows that’ll be sending abundant amounts of natural light throughout the home. I’ve continued to encourage as many people to take time to come and look at the home because it really is a beauty. I could live there in a New York second.

When I arrived at the office this morning I was beginning to wonder what I’d be doing on a day with only one appointment. Well, as we all know, there’s always something to do if we only look for it, and look I did.

It’s amazing how deeply engrossed one can get when fully focusing on a given project, because today’s was for me to begin my preparations for my monthly accounting ledgers I’ll be using in the coming months of 2019. By the time I finished up, I looked back and realized I was at least two weeks ahead of myself when compared to years before. There’s a great deal to be said about methodology where the more you have something fine-tuned or well-oiled, there’s really not that much mental work involved. Years later, I fully understood why teachers would get so upset whenever there were naughty monkey students always trying to side-track the giving of their lessons.

One of the Realtors brought me an offer on 321 S. Carolina today which was considerably lower than I’d expected, but as always, there are those buyers who believe they have to start low and then dicker their way up to an agreed-to price. Unfortunately, many sellers take offense by those tactics which at times makes it harder to get a deal put together. At least the seller didn’t reject the offer, and instead countered back to the buyers with a like-minded counter-offer.

We did speak about the inspection period which many of today’s buyers want, and the possibility of there being additional concessions being asked for by the buyers. I did share with him that there’ve been times when buyers have questionable features about a home, inspected before they make their offers, which are then based on what they’d already been made aware of, and in turn relieves those sellers of any worries of them coming back during an inspection period and asking for more. It’s come to the point now that I’m finding the better buys out there being homes that buyers have waived inspections, and when you think about the psychology of price bargaining, it does make sense.

While I was rummaging around in my storage area, I found a wooden box containing some photos, a few pieces of clothing, several books, two old newspaper pages, and travel brochures. Since I’d never fully investigated those items until today, I was delighted to find some interesting things I’m going to share with you in time. It appears most of the brochures and travel photos were from an extended working vacation that took place back in 1933-34 by a relatively prominent resident of Mason City at the time.

That wooden box of vintage goodies was just another example of demands that are made on sellers and even sometimes listing agents by a given home’s new buyers who oft times say, “I want ALL personal property out!” Well, when yours truly does his final walk-thru and still finds things left in attics and basements, there then becomes a burn to get it out before the buyers’ final walk-thru. I don’t even want to think about some of the historical treasures that end up in dumpsters or commercial trash bags waiting for their final burials out at our landfill. As long as I live, I’ll never forget seeing a small drop-off dumpster parked in the driveway of an estate I had listed, and seeing at least a hundred hard-bound books contained within. I believe throwing books away is bordering on real sin.

The above photo is but one out of many charming ones from a touring packet that the original owner of it must’ve purchased while visiting Norge (Norway) back in the 1930’s. In spite of them being small, they’re exceptionally clear. Whomever took those photos was indeed a professional photographer.

Tonight’s one-liner is: Age appears to be the best in four things; old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read.

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